Jim Triggs started building instruments over 35 years ago. Prior to working for Gibson in 1986, Triggs, who was a respected mandolin builder in the Midwest and on the West coast, had already built between 130-150 mandolins.

Jim was hired at Gibson to work in their world famous custom shop. His first duties included getting their F-5 mandolins back to their 1920’s specifications. Jim’s other responsibilities at Gibson included supervising the custom shop and running their Nashville artist relations department. During his last tenure at Gibson Jim spent his time overseeing the archtop guitar line. In his six years at Gibson, Jim worked on over 20 art instruments and signed the labels of over 700 guitars and mandolins.

Jim left Gibson in the spring of 1992 to build guitars on his own. Jim’s vast knowledge of various instruments led him on a path to become a “one man custom shop”. He also has a reputation for making guitars for a who’s who of artists in the music industry. Jim’s son Ryan has been working in the shop along side his dad for over 10 years now and this duo continues to create beautiful custom instruments one at a time in their Lawrence, KS shop. Their instruments have been featured in the Smithsonian Institute and Country Music Hall Of Fame, and graced the covers of USA Today, Billboard Magazine, and Country Weekly Magazine. They've also been played on The Today Show, The Travel Channel, TNN, The Grand Ole Opry as well as countless award shows.